Immunocytochemical evidence for a serotoninergic innervation of dorsal column postsynaptic neurons in cat and monkey: Light- and electron-microscopic observations

Dorsal column postsynaptic neurons in the lumbosacral enlargements of cats and a monkey were retrogradely labeled by placing horseradish peroxidase on their severed axons in the thoracic dorsal columns. After visualizing the retrogradely-labeled neurons, the tissue was immunocytochemically stained with an antiserum directed against serotonin. Immunoreactive axonal varicosities contacted the perikarya and proximal dendrites of every retrogradely-labeled neuron examined in cat (mean 61 contacts/cell) and nearly every neuron in the monkey (mean 18 contacts/cell). Electron microscopy showed that the immunoreactive axonal varicosities contained pleomorphic (round to oval) agranular vesicles and formed symmetrical synapses on retrogradely-labeled neurons.

It is concluded that dorsal column postsynaptic neurons are innervated directly by the brain stem's descending, serotoninergic system(s).